Bush rival joins Latham attack

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The campaign of the Democratic candidate for the US presidency, John Kerry, has for the first time rejected Mark Latham's plan to recall Australian troops from Iraq by Christmas, leaving the Labor leader without support for the policy in America's political mainstream.

James Rubin, a foreign policy adviser to Senator Kerry, told the Herald in Washington: "John Kerry has been very clear that regardless of what you think about how we got here, here we are. And failure is not an option in Iraq. And the prospect of success in Iraq will be improved by maintaining a substantial contribution from friends and allies, including Australia.

"When the Spanish Government announced its intention to pull out, he was critical of that. So he would be critical of any government's failure to recognise the stakes in Iraq, the need to succeed there, no matter how sympathetic he might be to concerns about how America got to this point."

President George Bush and his Secretary of State, Colin Powell, have both described Mr Latham's proposal as disastrous.

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The director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Hugh White, formerly deputy secretary of the Defence Department, said: "I think Latham conceived this issue in terms of his view of Bush and his assessment of the Australian voter's view of Bush. The trouble for him is that Iraq is no longer just Bush's problem or policy - it's America's problem and policy.

"Latham's position is a repudiation not just of Bush's policy but a repudiation of the bipartisan, and very seriously held, national project for America."

Mr Latham has suggested that Labor might agree to allow some troops to remain in Iraq to protect Australian diplomats. Yesterday Labour's foreign affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, said Labor would also leave a warship and maritime surveillance aircraft in the Persian Gulf to continue the fight against terrorism.

The Howard Government can be expected to use the criticism of Labor's troops policy to portray Mr Latham as anti-American or anti-ANZUS. He has said he is strongly in favour of the alliance.

Mr Latham has reserved Labor's position on the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiated between Canberra and Washington, while noting that he had "heavy reservations".

But on this issue, too, the Kerry campaign is more closely aligned with the Australian Government and the Bush Administration than it is with Mr Latham.

The director of economic policy for the Kerry campaign, Dr Jason Furman, said that while Senator Kerry was considering his position, he was "broadly sympathetic to the FTA with Australia". It is understood that Senator Kerry will either endorse the deal or remain silent.

Mr White suggested a Kerry administration might ask Canberra to increase its deployment to Iraq: "If Kerry wins the election, it's very likely to be because Iraq has done badly, and then it's highly likely that Kerry will be looking for bigger troop contributions for the tougher conditions."

But despite the criticism of Labor's troops stance, both sides of US politics yesterday reaffirmed the strength of the alliance regardless of what policy was adopted on Iraq.

Mr Powell, asked if there would be consequences for the alliance if the troops were withdrawn, said: "I would never put it that way. Australia will always be a close friend of the US and we are participating in so many ways with Australia in so many different areas."

He said the Bush Administration valued its friendship with Australian leaders. "But in valuing that relationship we also understand that Australian people are a sovereign, proud people who will determine who their leader should be to take them through troubled times."

His comments were echoed by one of Senator Kerry's advisers, Wendy Sherman, who told the ABC: "The US and Australia will have a very strong alliance whoever is president of the US and whoever is prime minister of Australia."